THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH ON DETECTING DEMENTIA: REFRAMING HEALTH EQUITY

Abstract Social determinants of health (SDoH) contribute to the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) and to missed opportunities to reduce the impact of its symptoms. They also play a fundamental role in detection of ADRD, leading to disparities in diagnosis as well as care. Public health practitioners have an outsize role in addressing the intersection between ADRD prevalence and related SDoH, especially for persons from minoritized and under-resourced communities. We will delineate the effects of this intersectionality and the need to reframe dementia detection strategies to promote health equity, reduce related stigma, and repair the mistrust that is integral to care inequities. We will highlight the ongoing efforts of our public health partners who are committed to ensuring that dementia is detected before a crisis occurs and opportunities they offer to support the efforts of our PHCOE partners in dementia prevention and caregiving.

them-must be part of the solution to ensuring better brain health for all American families.Ensuring that this hope and opportunity reaches all families regardless of zip code, income, race, or ethnicity will take greater commitment, investment, and strategies centered in health equity in public health and community-based initiatives.UsAgainstAlzheimer's will share what they have done to a) identify, adapt, and disseminate tailored messages to minority-serving communities and b) better equip providers to establish trust and reach those they seek to serve by: 1) better understanding the barriers, opportunities and challenges to reach and build trust in historically underrepresented populations; (2) developing tools, strategies and messages that resonate with these populations; and (3) showing how place matters when it comes to implementing effective public health strategies.

BENEFITS AND BARRIERS OF COMMUNITY-ENGAGED RESEARCH AND STRATEGIES FOR STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIP PRACTICE
Chair: Carrie Leach Co-Chair: Rodlescia Sneed Discussant: Tam Perry The meaningful engagement of older people in research may help to address their lag behind other groups in health outcomes and low participation in studies.This symposium addresses the critical gap in the aging literature and advances knowledge about community engagement by offering insight from experts on the complexities of partnership and engagement processes that vary by context as well as tools and tactics for overcoming obstacles.The first speaker will present findings and lessons gained from evaluating the needs of a self-organizing community advisory board of Black older adults to increase enrollment in a participant research pool.The second will focus on the challenges of centering a diverse range of partners in the design of a health and wellness program tailored to the needs of formerly incarcerated mid and late-life adults.The third speaker will provide recommendations for researchers interested in working with Indigenous communities and strategies for working collaboratively, and how to overcome relational challenges.The fourth speaker will present findings from a reflective evaluation process of a community-based participatory research partnership that evolved over seven years and discuss how the partnership evaluation tool can enhance partner practice.This symposium concludes with reflections about meaningful and authentic academic-community partnerships in line with supporting and building bridges between aspiring and existing community engaged scholars and older people who are experts on aging.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: DYNAMICS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESSFUL AND SUSTAINED PARTNERSHIPS IN CBPR WITH OLDER PEOPLE Carrie Leach, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States
Though community-engaged and participatory approaches are increasingly relied on in studies, the inclusion of older adults as co-learners is uncommon.To address this problem, we offer insight into the dynamics that contribute to successful partnerships between researchers and older residents who collaborated in a community based participatory research (CBPR) project in a Mid-western county.Using a CBPR logic model as a guiding framework, we reflected on our process and practices during our collaboration, with three community residents over the age of 65, that unfolded over the course of seven years.We will describe our approach and decisions made that shaped our partnership and present the findings from our reflective process evaluation with our partners, in their own words.We will discuss the utility of the CBPR model in guiding collective reflection as well as the lessons we learned and the dynamics that our partners identified as most salient in contributing to our successful and sustained partnership.We advocate for partnerships with older adults so that their voices are centered as experts on the experience of aging.Centering older adults as experts on the experience of aging in age-related research is one way to ensure that findings can be used to improve the lives of the oldest and most vulnerable members of our society, who stand to gain the most from research outcomes.

CHALLENGES OF CONDUCTING COMMUNITY-ENGAGED RESEARCH AMONG JUSTICE-INVOLVED MID-AND LATE-LIFE ADULTS Rodlescia Sneed, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States
Formerly incarcerated mid and late-life adults exhibit high rates of chronic disease and disability; however, there is little attention to chronic physical health within programs designed to provide community reentry support.Healthy eating and physical activity are known to reduce chronic disease risk; yet existing physical activity and nutrition programs fail to address the needs of formerly incarcerated mid and late-life adults, who often experience housing insecurity, unemployment, low literacy, and limited access to healthy food.Through a partnership with a community-based reentry program, we designed a health and wellness program tailored to the needs of formerly incarcerated mid and late-adults that included group fitness instructor training, weekly nutrition/ fitness classes, and peer coaching.Our team experienced numerous challenges in implementing this program, including low willingness of local community agencies to engage with justice-involved mid and late-life adults, competition with other reentry program activities, individual-level social factors that inhibited participation, and parole/probation restrictions that negatively impacted program attendance.In our session, we will describe how we engaged with a diverse range of partners to address these challenges to ensure program success.There are a number of barriers associated with conducting community-engaged research among formerly incarcerated mid and late-life adults.Our work to date will inform future engagement with this population.
Abstract citation ID: igad104.0278Historically, research with Indigenous populations has disregarded community input, creating mistrust among tribal communities toward researchers, and resulting in communities limiting their involvement in research projects.Today, Indigenous communities are becoming more engaged in the research process, including developing their own tribal review boards, partnering with researchers throughout entire research process, as well as exercising their tribal sovereignty and housing their own data.These efforts have resulted in the development of rigorous Indigenous approval processes, increased engagement of Indigenous people and communities in research, and studies that have direct impacts on those engaged, as well as future generations, as well as protect both the Indigenous communities and the researchers.As a researcher trained to conduct culturally respectful and culturally safe research with Indigenous communities in Alaska, my team and I have gained first-hand experience with tribal research protocols, research processes, and the iterative process of developing relationships, navigating research ethics, as well as ensuring that findings are reflective of the community, its individual members, and the region.Despite our best efforts, research does not go as written in our grant proposals.This presentation will outline the complexities of navigating tribal approval processes in Alaska, highlight some of the challenges

CHALLENGES IN THE COMMUNITY-DRIVEN RECRUITMENT OF BLACK OLDER ADULTS TO A HEALTH RESEARCH REGISTRY
Tam Perry 1 , Kent Key 2 , Elena Flores 3 , Vanessa Rorai 4 , and Jamie Mitchell 3 , 1. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States, 2. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States, 3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 4. Healthier Black Elders Center, Detroit, Michigan, United States Black older adults are underrepresented in health research.Community members representing diverse aging-focused organizations in Flint, Michigan desired more accessible health discoveries, and formed a Community Advisory Board (CAB) in partnership with three local universities.With a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIH), the CAB sought to promote research engagement through free community health programming and launching a Participant Research Pool (PRP) to connect Black older adults with non-invasive IRB-approved health research at participating universities.Despite extensive recruitment efforts by this academiccommunity partnership, including monthly virtual health seminars, a new website, tailored print and video promotional materials, a minority aging newsletter, and a community research symposium, the PRP remains severely under-enrolled after a year.An evaluation of recruitment strategies revealed a need for more frequent in-person programming, leveraging the social and professional networks of CAB members, increased intentionality in community partnerships, and more intensive and traditional modes of advertising to reach and recruit the target population.Lessons indicate that Black older adults in the community trust this research endeavor but require tailored and consistent outreach to engage with the participant research pool.